Automatic profile update in a mobile device

ABSTRACT

A method and system for managing mobile exchange of profile information between a requestor and a recipient. A mobile client is provided on a requestor&#39;s first mobile device. The requestor provides requestor profile to an information exchange server through the mobile client. The requestor requests for a connection with the recipient using the mobile client. The mobile client is provided on a recipient&#39;s second mobile device. The recipient provides recipient profile to the information exchange server through the mobile client. On acceptance of the request for connection by the recipient, the information exchange server transfers the recipient profile to the mobile client on the requestor&#39;s first mobile device and vice versa. The mobile client automatically updates the transferred recipient profile on the requestor&#39;s first mobile device based on changes made by the recipient to the recipient profile and vice versa.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/080,697, entitled “AUTOMATIC PROFILEUPDATE IN A MOBILE DEVICE” filed Jul. 15, 2008, the entirety of which isincorporated herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention, in general, relates to electronic business cards. Moreparticularly, this invention relates to a method of exchangingelectronic business cards through mobile phones between a user andcontacts of the user. The contacts of the user may comprise personal andbusiness contacts of the user.

2. Description of the Related Art

Electronically cataloging traditional business cards may be timeconsuming and prone to error. Business card information logged into anelectronic contact management system may become obsolete over a periodof time. The user may run out of the traditional business cards forexchange with the user's business contacts. The user may need to trackrelationship context along with the business card information of theuser's business contacts to make note of context information such asplace, time, relationship with a particular business contact, etc. Theuser may also need to send updates to the business card information ofthe user to user's business contacts in real time. The updates to theuser's business card information may comprise a change in job profile,address, phone number or email address of the user. The user may alsoneed to stay updated on the latest business card information of theuser's business contacts at all times.

The user may also lose electronic business cards received from user'sbusiness contacts due to loss, malfunction, or replacement of the user'smobile device. Therefore, for an instance of loss of the electronicbusiness cards, the user may need a backup of the electronic businesscards of the user's personal and business contacts to retrieve theelectronic business cards back on the mobile device of the user. Theuser may also want to send updated contact information to new businesscontacts through the user's mobile device automatically without userintervention. Existing online service providers' provide communicationmeans to exchange business card information through web sites andelectronic mails (emails), and business card scans stored on computer.The communication means provided by the existing online serviceproviders may not capture the context of the exchange, for example, timeand date of exchange, user notes, location, etc., nor may it capturesocial media information (e.g. blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitterinformation). However, means to exchange the business card informationinstantly using mobile phones may not be provided by the online serviceproviders.

Therefore, there is need for a method and a system that enables the userto exchange electronic business cards instantly through the user'smobile phone, share business card information (including social mediainformation and context) with the user's business contacts, and capturecontext of meetings with the business contacts. There is also a need forthe method and the system for storing the electronic business cards ofthe user's business contacts on a central server as a backup means.There is also a need for the method and the system to automaticallyupdate modified business card information of the user's businesscontacts on the user's mobile device and vice versa.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described in the detailed descriptionof the invention. This summary is not intended to identify key oressential inventive concepts of the claimed subject matter, nor is itintended for determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The method and system disclosed herein provides a mobile client on arequestor's first mobile device. The requestor provides requestorprofile to an information exchange server through the mobile client. Therequestor requests a connection with the recipient using the mobileclient. The mobile client is provided on a recipient's second mobiledevice. The recipient provides recipient profile to the informationexchange server through the mobile client. On acceptance of the requestfor connection by the recipient, the information exchange servertransfers the recipient profile to the mobile client on the requestor'sfirst mobile device and vice versa. The mobile client automaticallyupdates the transferred recipient profile on the requestor's firstmobile device based on changes made by the recipient to the recipientprofile and vice versa.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description ofthe invention, is better understood when read in conjunction with theappended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention,exemplary constructions of the invention are shown in the drawings.However, the invention is not limited to the specific methods andinstrumentalities disclosed herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates a method of managing mobile exchange of profileinformation between a requestor and a recipient.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system of managing mobile exchange of profileinformation between a requestor and a recipient.

FIG. 3A exemplarily illustrates mobile exchange of profile informationbetween computing devices via a network.

FIG. 3B is an exemplary logical system architecture for the mobileexchange of profile information between computing devices via a network.

FIG. 4 exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a process of a recipientinstalling a mobile client on a mobile device of the recipient based onrequest for connection by a requestor.

FIG. 5 exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a process of a public userinstalling a mobile client on a smartphone.

FIG. 6 exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a process of a public userinstalling a mobile client on a smartphone by accessing a host websitefrom the public user's smartphone.

FIG. 7 exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a process of providing amobile client to a public user.

FIGS. 8A-8K exemplarily illustrate user actions performed by a userusing a mobile client on a mobile device of the user.

FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary illustration of a mobile device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Particular embodiments of the present invention will now be described ingreater detail with reference to the figures.

FIGS. 1-2 illustrate a method and system of managing mobile exchange ofprofile information between a requestor 201 and a recipient 203. Theprofile information may comprise user name, contact numbers, emailaddresses, visual images, audio content, job profile, locationaddresses, and social media information and links, etc of the requestor201 and the recipient 203 respectively. An electronic business card on amobile device may collectively represent the profile information on amobile device of the requestor 201 and the recipient 203 respectively.

Although the description refers to the requestor 201 as the party askingfor the recipient's 203 profile information, it is to be understood thatthe requestor 201 and the recipient 203 may change roles, such that therecipient 203 may be the one asking for the requestor's 201 profileinformation. However, for clarity and to avoid confusion, thedescription will refer to the requestor 201 as the one asking forprofile information from at least one or more other recipients 203.

The method disclosed herein provides 101 a mobile client 202 a on afirst mobile device 202 of the requestor 201. The requestor 201 maydownload and install the mobile client 202 a from a host website via anetwork 205 onto the first mobile device 202. The mobile client 202 a iscompatible for installation on mobile devices working on differenttechnological platforms and operating systems, for example, Java,Symbian, Windows, Mac, iPhone, Linux, Unix, Palm, etc.

The requestor 201 then provides 102 requestor profile 201 a to aninformation exchange server 206 of the host website through the mobileclient 202 a via the network 205. The requestor 201 may also use browserbased computing devices to provide the requestor profile 201 a on thehost website on the internet directly. The requestor 201 then requests103 for a connection with the recipient 203 through the informationexchange server 206 using the mobile client 202 a as shown in the userinterface 800 of FIG. 8A. At box 803, the requestor 201 may generate andsend (at box 804) the request as a short message service (SMS), anelectronic mail (email), or through push notification (if the recipientis registered in the system the requestor may use the user ID of therecipient 203 instead of the SMS or email) via the information exchangeserver 206 to a second mobile device 204 of the recipient 203 using themobile client 202 a as illustrated in FIG. 8A. The status of the variousgenerated requests may be shown at box 805. Various types of informationmay be included in the user interface 800, such as active screeninformation (box 801), or logos and or other types of advertisementinformation (at boxes 802, 807).

The request may be described as an “identification code” or ID code thatinitiates a set of instructions to be performed and controlled by theinformation exchange server 206. Specifically, the identification codemight contain an access code along with a key or hash function, a callto the specific API or API function, and/or any other type of requireddata to execute the appropriate function or functions. The functionmight consist of a profile transfer request to or from the recipient 203or the requester 201, or any other function the user could performthrough the mobile application. In one example, the access code and keymay be a unique code and key which is established or loaded onto themobile device 202, 204 when the user first registers, logs in, or usesthe mobile client on the mobile device 202, 204. In such an embodiment,the mobile device may provide the access code and key, and/or associateddata information, to all transmissions along with the API request andappropriate data to provide the identity of the device, the user, andthe appropriate instructions. The access code and key might also be auser name and password which are passed to the information exchangeserver 206 along with the API or instruction request and related data.

The identification code may be associated with various types ofinformation, including but not limited to an access code, a key, a hashfunction, an API request or call, data required to perform the APIrequest, information about the mobile device, location basedinformation, a user, a user's preferences, the mobile devicecapabilities, profile information of a user, a social or professionalevent, a group, a centralized group coordinator, and any other type ofdata in accordance with this invention.

Another important aspect about the present invention is the ability forthe system to obtain, pull, or retrieve information about the mobiledevice used by the requestor 201 or the recipient 203. Such informationmight include the type of mobile device, platform and version, carrierinformation, profile information, and location based information. Thesystem will know if a user changes mobile devices, the capabilities ofthe mobile device, if the user had updated software, or changesinformation about their mobile device. The profile and location data canbe used to identify users about software upgrades, version conflicts,and location based services including internet access to GPS location oflost mobile devices.

In more detail, it is to be understood that various types of informationmay be made available to the information exchange server 206 duringsignaling in accordance with systems and methods of this invention,similar to the information exchanged when a mobile device registers(either as a push or a pull inquiry) with its serving network. Atregistration, and likewise when as here the mobile device signals intothe network 208, information about the particular device being used,such as the location of the mobile device, the user's profile, userpreferences, and the like, may be shared with the information exchangeserver 206. For various reasons, this information may be used by theinformation exchange server 206 to coordinate the type of messaging thatshould be prepared and sent to an intended mobile device recipient. Forexample, one user, and/or serving network for the mobile device of theuser, may set a preference to receive SMS messages on his mobile device,while another user may prefer to receive email messages on their mobiledevice or at another device location. The information exchange server206 is equipped to handle such translation and requests appropriatelyfor the particular preference appropriately.

An “event” may be a one-to-one communication encounter, a one-to-manycommunication encounters, a social or personal meeting, and otherengagement or environment in which contact profile information isgenerally exchanged amongst various people. Although the request isdescribed above as a SMS or an email to communicate back to theinformation exchange server 206, it is to be understood that any type ofpush or messaging protocol may be employed, including but not limitedto, MMS, USSD, a dedicated short code, and or any other suitablemessaging protocol capable of sending a request. The requestor 201 mayalso use other communications means, for example, infrared datatransfer, Bluetooth, WiFi or WiMax, etc, to send the request to therecipient's 203 second mobile device 204.

FIG. 8A depicts an exemplary user interface 800 on a first mobile device202. The user interface 800 includes selectable profile indicators 801and a space for a logo 802. As shown, the “Send Invitation Icon” isselected at 801. A data entry box 803 is provided to insert the email,mobile number, a user id, or a message, and/or other types ofinformation, and action buttons 804 are provided to send or clear themessage in the data entry box 803. Various status boxes 805, 801 a areillustrated depicting the status of various invitations. The variousFIGS. 8B-8K show similar user interfaces 800 including similar labelsand indicia.

The information exchange server 206 then provides 104 the mobile client202 a on the recipient's 203 second mobile device 204 for acceptance ofthe request from the requestor 201. The information exchange server 206may provide a hyperlink in an SMS or in an email sent by the requestor201. The recipient 203 may click on the hyperlink in the SMS or theemail for downloading the mobile client 202 a on the recipient's 203second mobile device 204. The recipient 203 may then download andconfigure the mobile client 202 a on the recipient's 203 second mobiledevice 204. The recipient 203 then provides 105 the recipient profile203 a to the information exchange server 206 through the mobile client202 a on the recipient's 203 second mobile device 204.

The recipient 203 may accept the request from the requestor 201 throughinformation exchange server 206 on the recipient's 203 second mobiledevice 204 as illustrated in FIG. 8F. On acceptance of the request bythe recipient 203, the information exchange server 206 may establish theconnection between the requestor's 201 first mobile device 202 and therecipient's 203 second mobile device 204. In one embodiment, theinformation exchange server 206 may establish the connection between therequestor 201 and the recipient 203 via the SMS or the email before themobile client 202 a is downloaded and configured by the recipient 203 onthe recipient's 203 second mobile device 204.

On acceptance of the request from the requestor 201 by the recipient203, the information exchange server 206 transfers 106 the recipientprofile 203 a and the requestor profile 201 a to the mobile client 202 aon the requestor's 201 first mobile device 202 and the recipient's 203second mobile device 204 respectively. The information exchange server206 first transfers 106 a the recipient profile 203 a to the requestor's201 first mobile device 202. The information exchange server 206 thentransfers 106 b the requestor profile 201 a to the mobile client 202 aon the recipient's 203 second mobile device 204. Although the exchangeof each of the requestor's 201 and recipient's 203 profile information201 a, 203 a is being sent from the information exchange server 206, itis to be understood that profile information 201 a, 203 a may be sentdirectly between the first mobile device 202 and the second mobiledevice 204, without having to go through the information exchange server206. In such instances, copies of the profile information 201 a, 203 amay be sent back to the information exchange server 206 to update theinformation exchange server's 206 profile information 201 a, 203 arecords.

The mobile client 202 a on the requestor's 201 first mobile device 202may store the transferred recipient profile 203 a of the recipient 203as a recipient business card. The mobile client 202 a on the recipient's203 second mobile device 204 may also store the transferred requestorprofile 201 a as a requestor electronic business card. For example, themobile client 202 a on the requestor's 201 first mobile device 202 mayupdate a requestor address book 202 f on the requestor's 201 firstmobile device 202 by storing the electronic business card of therecipient 203 in the requestor address book 202 f.

The mobile client 202 a then automatically updates 107 the transferredrecipient profile 203 a on the requestor's 201 first mobile device 202and the transferred requestor profile 201 a on the recipient's 203second mobile device 204 based on changes made to the recipient profile203 a and the requestor profile 201 a by the recipient 203 and therequestor 201 respectively. The recipient 203 may make changes to therecipient profile 203 a on the information exchange server 206 using themobile client 202 a on the recipient's 203 second mobile device 204. Therecipient 203 may make the changes to the recipient profile 203 a due tochanges in one or more of job profile of the recipient 203, address ofthe recipient 203, phone number of the recipient 203, email address ofthe recipient 203, or any information or data stored or included in therecipient profile.

If the recipient 203 makes changes to the recipient profile 203 a on theinformation exchange server 206, the information exchange server 206 mayautomatically transfer the changes made by the recipient 203 to themobile client 202 a on the requestor's 201 first mobile device 202. Theautomatic transfer may be in real time or near real time or pushed atlogical intervals. For example, the mobile client 202 a on therequestor's 201 first mobile device 202 and the information exchangeserver 206 may have a persistent interne protocol (IP) connection. Therequestor 201 may then subscribe to receive the changes made by therecipient 203 automatically through the information exchange server 206in real time. The mobile client 202 a on the requestor's 201 firstmobile device 202 may then automatically update the transferredrecipient profile 203 a on the requestor's 201 first mobile device 202with the changes made by the recipient 203 to the recipient profile 203a. The mobile client 202 a on the requestor's 201 first mobile device202 may also automatically update the electronic business card of therecipient 203 with the changes to the recipient information in therequestor address book 202 f of the requestor's 201 first mobile device202. In addition, rather than a full time connection or periodicrequest, the system may employ a push technology or ping technologywhich acts when a profile is updated. The exchange server 206 uponreceiving updated profile information would trigger an automatic push ofthe new information to the mobile device, with or without notification,or might ping the mobile device to accept the updated information.

Similarly, if the requestor 201 makes changes to the requestor profile201 a on the information exchange server 206, the mobile client 202 a onthe recipient's 203 second mobile device 204 may also receive thechanges from the information exchange server 206. The mobile client 202a on the recipient's 203 second mobile device 204 may then automaticallyupdate the transferred requestor profile 201 a on the recipient's 203second mobile device 204 automatically with the changes made by therequestor 201 to the requestor profile 201 a. The mobile client 202 a onthe recipient's 203 second mobile device 204 may also automaticallyupdate the electronic business card of the requestor 201 with thechanges to the recipient information in the recipient address book 204 aof the recipient's 203 second mobile device 204. The requestor 201 andthe recipient 203 may also update one or more personal and businesscontacts selectively on the requestor's 201 first mobile device 202 andthe recipient's 203 second mobile device 204 respectively. The mobileclient 202 a on the requestor's 201 first mobile device 202 and therecipient's 203 second mobile device 204 may also send requests to theinformation exchange server 206 at predefined intervals to automaticallyreceive the changes to the recipient profile 203 a and the requestorprofile 201 a respectively.

The requestor 201 may have access to the recipient profile 203 a of therecipient 203 on one or more of the social network websites. Therequestor 201 may then import and store the recipient profile 203 a ofthe recipient 203 from the social network websites directly onto therequestor's 201 first mobile device 202 through the mobile client 202 aon the requestor's 201 first mobile device 202. The information exchangeserver 206 may then automatically establish a connection between therequestor 201 and the recipient 203 when the requestor 201 imports andstores the recipient profile 203 a on the requestor's 201 first mobiledevice 202 using the mobile client 202 a. The recipient 203 may alsoimport and store the requestor profile 201 a of the requestor 201 fromthe social network websites directly onto the recipient's 203 secondmobile device 204 through the mobile client 202 a on the recipient's 203second mobile device 204. The mobile client 202 a on the requestor's 201first mobile device 202 may also add (box 803 d of FIG. 8C) or updatethe recipient profile 203 a of the recipient 203 on one or more socialnetworking websites on the internet with the transferred recipientprofile 203 a. The mobile client 202 a on the recipient's 203 secondmobile device 204 may also add or update the requestor profile 201 a ofthe requestor 201 on one or more social networking websites on theinternet with the transferred requestor profile 201 a.

The first mobile device 202 and the second mobile device 204 may be anyof the commercially available mobile phones and smartphones, forexample, Blackberry, Palm, Nokia, Ericcson, Samsung, Android, iPhone,and/or any other commercially available mobile phone now known or laterdiscovered in accordance with this invention. The requestor 201 and therecipient 203 may further create multiple profiles on the host websitevia the internet or via the mobile client 202 a to provide contextspecific information. For example, if the recipient 203 is a friend or afamily member of the requestor 201, the requestor 201 may create apersonal profile to provide personal information to the recipient 203.If the recipient 203 is a business associate of the requestor 201, thenthe requestor 201 may create a business profile to provide businessinformation to the recipient 203. The requestor 201 and the recipient203 may tag context specific information (boxes 803 b, 803 c of FIG. 8C)along with the requestor profile 201 a and the recipient profile 203 arespectively as illustrated in FIG. 8C. The context information maycomprise the location where the contact was made, the time the contactwas made, shared interests and/or groups with the contact, personal andbusiness notes, links to clients, and any other type of informationintended to be memorialized about the contact. For example, the contextinformation may comprise information noting the recipient 203 as a smartsales person or a known manager of a company. The mobile client 202 amay also capture an image or image data such as a picture of therecipient to add to the recipient profile 203 a.

The mobile client 202 a may capture geographic information like date,time, and global positioning system (GPS) coordinates at the time ofproviding the requestor profile 201 a and the recipient profile 203 a bythe requestor 201 and the recipient 203 respectively. The mobile client202 a may then send the captured date, time, and GPS coordinates to theinformation exchange server 206. The information exchange server 206 maystore the requestor profile 201 a and the recipient profile 203 aprovided by the requestor 201 and the recipient 203 respectively. Theinformation exchange server 206 may also store the geographicinformation sent by the mobile client 202 a.

The method disclosed herein further provides an electronic business cardbowl application 208 for a business organization 207 with a businessprofile provided on the information exchange server 206 for collectingthe profile information provided by customers using the mobile client202 a via the information exchange server 206. The method disclosedherein may provide an exclusive online business service to the businessorganization 207 to set up the electronic business card bowl application208 on a business website of the business organization 207. Theelectronic business card bowl application 208 may store the profileinformation provided by the customers on a business website of thebusiness organization 207. For example, the business organization 207may receive profile information from the customers through theelectronic business card bowl application 208 via the informationexchange server 206. The business organization 207, for example, achamber of commerce, business alliance, an association, a membership orclub, a restaurant, a garment shop, a retail outlet, etc may thenutilize the electronic business card bowl application 208 for ease ofprofile information transfer to attendees and for promotions of thebusiness organization 207. For example, all the attendees of a givenevent or conference of the organization may be provided in a group ororganization listing in the database 306 which would be available toother attendees through the information exchange server 206. Further,the business organization 207 may utilize the list of attendees such asfor a contest offering prizes to the attendees or customers using theprofile information of the attendees or customers stored by theelectronic business card bowl application 208 through the informationexchange server 206. An attendee or customer may send their profile tothe business organization 207 though the mobile client 202 a on a mobiledevice of the customer via the information exchange server 206 to availbusiness offers offered by the business organization 207. The businessoffers may comprise exchange of profile information of other attendees,notification mailing list entry, contest for free lunch, discountcoupons, etc offered by the business organization 207.

The mobile client 202 a enables the requestor 201 and the recipient 203to view the user interface 800 of the mobile client 202 a as illustratedin the status box 805 in FIG. 8B, send the requests, accept therequests, view status of the sent requests or invites as illustrated inthe “Track Exchanges Icon” user interface 800 shown in FIG. 8D. FIG. 8Eshows a user interface 800 in which the requests received may be viewedin status box 805 as illustrated in FIG. 8E. The mobile client 202 aalso enables the requestor 201 and the recipient 203 to view list ofcontacts as illustrated in the user interface 800 illustrated in FIG.8G. Using search query box 820 within the user interface 800, FIG. 8Hillustrates how a particular contact may be searched for within a listof contacts, as well as to view and update the profile information, etc.In the user interface 800 shown in FIG. 8I, the mobile client 202 a alsoenables the requestor 201 and the recipient 203 to view the profileinformation 822 of a particular contact, e.g., Austin Powers. As shownin this exemplary user interface 800, the contact profile informationincludes various types of information. In a first contact informationidentification box 822, along with the contacts name, company andposition may be displayed. In a second box 824, various phone numbers,email, social networks and IM addresses may be displayed. In another box826, other contextual information and private notes may be providedabout the contact. This profile information may be accessed via theInternet and/or through the mobile client 202 on a requestor mobiledevice 202. At box 228, information about recent updates and lastcontacts with the person may be provided. Any one of the boxes, and orinformation in any of the FIGS. 8A-8K may be expanded to include anextensible set of icons and customizable links. As depicted in the userinterface 800 shown in FIG. 8J, business offers sent from advertisersmay be viewed, and accept or rejected. FIG. 8K depicts another exemplaryview for the user interface 800 in which additional business offers sentfrom advertisers may be reviewed in status box 805.

The requestor 201 and the recipient 203 may also use browser basedcomputing devices to access an user interface similar to the mobileclient 202 a provided on the host website of the information exchangeserver 206 via the internet by registering on the host website andlogging in. The mobile client 202 a on a mobile device may maintain alog of calls, emails, text messages, etc. sent from the mobile device ofthe user The information exchange server 206 may also store the log ofcalls, emails, text messages, etc. sent from the mobile device of theuser in an information database 206 a of the information exchange server206. The mobile client 202 a may provide the user an optional offer binfacility for receiving advertisements from advertisers on the user'smobile device. The mobile client 202 a may enable the user to send theprofile information with the other users without disclosing phone numberof the user. The mobile client 202 a also enables the user to maintain aback up of the profile information of the other users on the user'smobile device in the information database 206 a of the informationexchange server 206. The user may retrieve the back up of the profileinformation of the other users from the information database 206 athrough the information exchange server 206 in case of loss or damage ofthe user's mobile device.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system of managing mobile exchange of profileinformation between a requestor 201 and a recipient 203. The systemdisclosed herein comprises a mobile client 202 a provided on arequestor's 201 first mobile device 202, a recipient's 203 second mobiledevice 204, and an information exchange server 206 connected via anetwork 205. The mobile client 202 a comprises an information inputmodule 202 b, a request module 202 c, information update module 202 d,and an offer bin module 202 e. The information input module 202 benables the requestor 201 and the recipient 203 to provide requestorprofile 201 a and recipient profile 203 a respectively to an informationexchange server 206. The request module 202 c requests for a connectionwith the recipient 203.

The information exchange server 206 comprises an information database206 a and an information transfer module 206 b. The information database206 a stores the requestor profile 201 a and the recipient profile 203 aprovided by the requestor 201 and the recipient 203 respectively throughthe mobile client 202 a. The information database 206 a also stores alog of calls, emails, and text messages sent from a mobile device usingthe mobile client 202 a. On acceptance of the request for the connectionfrom the requestor 201 by the recipient 203, the information transfermodule 206 b transfers the recipient profile 203 a from the informationexchange server 206 to the requestor's 201 first mobile device 202. Theinformation transfer module 206 b then transfers the requestor profile201 a to the mobile client 202 a on the recipient's 203 second mobiledevice 204. The information update module 202 d of the mobile client 202a on the first mobile device 202 automatically updates the recipientprofile 203 a and the requestor profile 201 a transferred from aninformation exchange server 206 on the requestor's 201 first mobiledevice 202 and recipient's 203 second mobile device 204 respectivelybased on changes made to the recipient profile 203 a and the requestorprofile 201 a by the recipient 203 and the requestor 201 respectively.The mobile client 202 a may update an electronic business card of therequestor 201 and the recipient 203 in a requestor address book 202 f ofthe requestor's 201 first mobile device 202 and a recipient address book204 a of the recipient's 203 second mobile device 204 respectively. Theoffer bin module 202 e receives advertisements from advertisers on themobile device using the mobile client 202 a.

The system disclosed herein further comprises an electronic businesscard bowl application 208. The electronic business card bowl application208 collects profile information provided by customers via theinformation exchange server 206 on a business website of the businessorganization 207 hosted by a business organization server.

FIG. 3A depicts an exemplary illustration of an exchange of profileinformation between various computing devices via the network 205. Asshown, a browser based user 301 a is shown using a computing device 302,a mobile browser based user 301 b is shown using a mobile device 303,and a mobile rich client user 301 c is shown employing a smart phone 304which may be connected through a web server 307 into one or moreinformation exchange servers 308 via the network 205. Although each ofthe various computing devices 302, 303, 304 shown are connected throughone of various users 301 a, 301 b, 301 c interfaces, it is also withinthe scope of this invention to connect a mobile computing device intothe information exchange servers 308 via a native user interface, and/orany other interface which does not require a web server 307. Althoughnot specifically depicted, a mobile user (such as 301 b) could beconnected or interact with the system through use of SMS. In such aninstance, the user would send an SMS message to one or more SMS codeswith established instructions. For example, the mobile user 301 b couldsend an SMS text to 38263: dubme john@myemail.com. The SMS message wouldbe transmitted from the carrier to the system where it could betranslated into http requests to interact with the API, servers 307, 308and database 306 to execute the same functions and requests the user canemploy through the mobile client 202 a. In this instance, theinstructions would be translated into an http request to interact withthe API to transmit the user's profile to the recipient whose email isjohn@myemail.com.

Each of the user 301 a, 301 b, 301 c interfaces may access data via adatabase server 308 from the information exchange servers 308 in asimple and clear format. According to this system, the addition of a newuser interface can be integrated is an easy, suitable manner. As shownand in FIG. 3B, the architectural style is layered, and the logicalarchitecture of the system is depicted from at least one mobile phoneuser interface down to the source database. It is to be understood thatthe layered architectural structure of this system may include more orless layers in accordance with this invention.

FIG. 3A depicts an exemplary logical system architecture illustration inaccordance with this invention. The object of this architecture is tocoordinate the transfer, extraction, storage and representation of datainformation to and from the existing legacy systems, the exchangeservers of this invention, and the various computing devices 302, 303,304 operated by the various users 301 a, 301 b, 301 c. FIGS. 3A and 3Bshow a system including at least three different users 301 a, 301 b, 301c. The various interfaces may run on any one of, or many, number ofdifferent operating systems, including but not limited to Windows®,Linux, WAP, MIDP, Symbian, Pocket PC, and or any other platform nowknown or later discovered in accordance with this invention.

In FIG. 3A, the web servers 307 communicate with one or more storagedatabases, such as the database servers 308 and a proprietary database306, such as herein named and shown “DUB Database.” The web servers 307handle the HTTP protocol to enable the exchange of the profileinformation between the storage databases 306, 308, the browser-baseduser 301 a, the mobile browser-based user 301 b, the mobile rich clientuser 301 c via the Internet. As previous described, the user couldinteract with the system through SMS or an SMS client on the mobiledevice send SMS messages to the network which are then converted intohttp requests. Likewise, the web servers 307 provide the interfacecapability for sending the email and/or SMS to the browser-based user301 a, the mobile browser-based user 301 b, and the mobile rich clientuser 301 c via the interne or the network 205 can be used to send SMSmessages to mobile devices which are set to receive SMS through userpreference or mobile device limitations. The web servers 307 alsoprovide the capability of pushing updated application code or profileinformation to the browser-based user 301 a, the mobile browser-baseduser 301 b, and the mobile rich client user 301 c via the internet.

In FIG. 3B, the mobile application 350 communicates into the coreapplication 320. As depicted, the web application 330 and a mobile webapplication 340, are connected to and between the mobile application 350and the core application 320. As shown, the web application 330 iscomposed of a web presentation layer (WPL) 332, and the mobile webapplication 340 is composed of a mobile web presentation layer (MWPL)342. Both of these applications transform and represent the profileinformation in a manner in which the target mobile device can handle andeventually display the profile information on a user interface to theuser.

According to this invention, it is to be understood the API's integratedherein provide both front end and back end APIs for integration. Forfront end integration, REST/JSON APIs and SDK may be provided foriPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Android, and other similar operatingmobile devices. A Javascript library may also be available to integratethe systems and methods of this invention with Web-based interfaces. Onthe backend, this invention may integrate an asynchronous integrationpipeline that ties outbound requests off its invitation, or connectionprocess. Various pre-built providers (e.g., Salesforce, LinkedIn,Siebel, SugarCRM, Twitter) may be leveraged, or customized applicationsmay be developed and integrated. Likewise, organizations can push datafrom their systems and the methods described in this invention enabledata n information within the present invention to be pushed into otherorganization systems seamlessly.

Communication to and from the web application 330 and the webpresentation layer (WPL) 332 may leverage representational statetransfer (REST) as a preferred software architecture style fordistributed hypermedia systems such as the World Wide Web. However, itis to be understood that any suitable architecture style may beimplemented in accordance with this invention. As shown, the MIME typeof the data supported by the web service is JSON. However, othersuitable types may include, such as for example, XML, YAML, and or anyother valid MIME type, now known or later contemplated in accordancewith this invention. The semantics of REST notifications can easily beexpressed in JSON format and are easy to parse and handle in theJavaScript environment. In this example, both of the UIs arebrowser-based, however, as mentioned before, it is also possible tochoose to implement native or alternative wireless UIs, and/or the likewhich may not be browser based. Adding a new interface into thisarchitecture could be accomplished through the addition of a newcomponent at the presentation layer.

In the core application 320, various components are provided includingdata storage 322, a core data layer (CDL) 324, and a core applicationservices layer (CASL) 326. Together, the various components provide therequisite logic and applications for processing the data and providingthe profile information data to the user interface of the mobile devices302, 303, 304 for the various users 301 a, 301 b, 301 c.

In the mobile application 350, various other components are providedincluding a mobile services layer (MSL) 351, a mobile application layer(MAL) 352, and a mobile presentation layer (MPL) 353. The mobileservices layer (MSL) 351 exchanges data information with an SMS client354, an email client 355, a push client 356 and an address book 357resident in the mobile application 350. It is to be understood that themobile application 350 is adapted to host various additional clients notshown, albeit readily available. Together, the various layers 351, 352,353 in the mobile application 350 include the requisite logic andsupport applications to process the data to and from the coreapplication 320 in order to provide the profile information data to thevarious users 301 a, 301 b, 301 c.

As shown in FIG. 3B, various services may communicate and exchange datainformation between the core application services layer 326 and thevarious clients 354, 355, 356 in the mobile application 350. By way ofexample, an SMS/Text client 362 resident on the mobile phone 360communicates from a carrier 376 and through an SMS gateway 374 and/orthrough an email server 378 back into the email client 355 or the SMSclient 354 within the mobile application 350. Alternatively, where apush type service 379 is used on a mobile computing device, such as withApple and RIM products, text generated from the SMS text client 362would be transmitted into the push client 356 within the mobileapplication 350. Although SMS and email are described in detail, it isto be understood that any type of suitable messaging format may beintegrated in accordance with this invention, such as for example, shortcodes, MMS, USSD and/or any other suitable messaging service now knownor later discovered.

In FIG. 3B, various other services are shown integrated into the systemsand methods of this invention, such as, for example, the integration ofa customer relationship management (CRM) contact management system 370,and/or the social networks 372. Data information gathered from the CRMcontact management systems 370 and the social networks 372 may be sentinto the core application services layer (CASL) 326. As shown, alocation based service (LBS) 380 may be integrated into this invention.The LBS system 380 can provide information about the current position ofa mobile device, as well as comparison and relative data of two mobiledevices in proximity with each other. Various commercially availablelocation based services may be used, such as for example, GPS, celltower triangulation techniques, and any other suitable position locatingtechnology.

The CRM contact management system 370 may be used in combination withthe systems and methods of this invention in such a way that proprietarysales data information about a carrier's vendors and their partners maybe securely shared with a proprietary sales person in the carriers 376employ. In more detail, an aspect of this invention is to allow thecarrier employee access to carrier's client database while undercarrier's employ. However, carte blanche access may not be desired bythe carrier. Consequently, certain identity information about thecarrier's proprietary contact information may be masked so that if theemployee should leave the carrier's employ, the carrier employee will bedisconnected from acquiring access to the carrier client database, aswell as lacking the ability to further access the carrier's clientdatabase. It is to be understood that various types of contactmanagements systems may be employed, such as, Siebel on Demand, SalesForce, as well as other contact management databases such as LinkedIn,MS Dynamics, Twitter, MySpace, and any other now known or laterdiscovered contact management database.

The Location Based Service 380 element can operate in a variety ofdifferent ways. According to a first embodiment, a one-to-one socialencounter may take place in which a requestor 201 and a recipient 203encounter each other. Although the one-to-one social encounter has beendescribed in detail with respect to FIG. 2, an additional aspect of thisscenario is such that the location based service 380 may be integratedinto the one-to-one encounter. This feature would allow a requestor 201and a recipient 203 having a mobile client 202 a installed on each oftheir phones respectively, to exchange profile information without theneed to manually enter an email address, an identification code or aphone number. Employing the location based service 380, equipped forexample with GPS or cell tower triangulation techniques, and withinpredetermined time interval, the information exchange server 206 maymatch and compare incoming exchange requests and present participatingusers with a list of available participating users. That is, where therequester 201 and a recipient 203 desire to share profile information201 a, 203 a, both the requestor 201 and the recipient 203 may initiatethe exchange of their profile information nearly simultaneously by, forexample, selecting an assigned button on their respective mobile devices202, 204. LBS 380 may then determine whether the requestor 201 and therecipient 203 are proximally close to each other and have both selectedto share their profile information at approximately the same time witheach other. The need to identify and associate a specific ID code withthe encounter may not be necessary because the LBS 380 may determinethat since the first mobile device 202 and the second mobile device 204are substantially close to each other and have both selected to shareprofile information with another mobile device in close proximity tothem, the likelihood that they are both requesting each others profileinformation is highly certain. The information exchange server 206 cansend a verifying message to both the first mobile device 202 and thesecond mobile device 204 requesting verification that they desire toexchange profile information with each other. Upon acceptance, therequestor profile 201 a and the recipient profile 203 a may then beexchanged with each other wirelessly. Although described as a one-to-oneencounter, it is also possible to implement this process in a groupsetting where more than one mobile device is available to share each oftheir respective profile information amongst the group. Once the profileinformation has been accepted, the profile information will be sharedand populated into the requestors address book 202 f and the recipientsaddress book 2041 respectively. According to this embodiment, thereisn't a need to manually accept and/or transcribe the data manually intothe address book.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a social group encounter maytake place in which a requestor 201 and a number of recipients 203 mayintroduce themselves to each other and desire to exchange profileinformation, which is typically done by sharing business cards with eachother. In this scenario, a single group identification code associatedwith the social event may be generated, tagged and associated with theparticular social event. This scenario works well, for example, insituations where various unfamilar participants attend a conference, alarge meeting, and the like. The multiple attendees, herein, therequestor 201 and the various recipients 203, may share their profileinformation 201 a, 203 a with each other. Those in attendance at theevent may wish to share their profile information with others at thesocial event. In operation, attendees at the social event may send theirown profile information via the Internet or from a mobile client 202 aresident on their mobile device into the information exchange server 206via the group identification code. The information exchange server 206will then compile all of the received profiles, match the requestors 201with the recipients 203 and share the respected profile information 201a, 203 a. An acceptance policy may be embedded such that an acceptancemessage is first sent to the requestor's 201 user interface promptingthe requestor 201 to decline or approve the sharing of the profileinformation with the recipient. Any further modification to a particularprofile in the group will be subsequently updated and revised at theinformation exchange server 206 and thereafter transmitted to all groupmember participants associated with that group identification code.

According to another exemplary embodiment of invention, a single groupcoordinator may be established who controls what profile information maybe shared amongst a member's only directory defined group. The member'sonly directory may be accessed via the Internet or the mobile client 202a. The member's only directory may display only selected publicinformation to the other members of the group. The individual memberscan exchange profile information from the member directory. The groupcan be un-moderated or moderated. An un-moderated group can be set up byone of the participants via the Internet or through the mobile client202 a by entering a group name and a group identification codeassociated with the member directory. By sharing this groupidentification code with others, the other participants can join themember directory group.

A moderated group is one in which a single group coordinator may beestablished who controls what profile information may be shared amongstthe members only directory defined group. The group coordinatormaintains management control of the profile information of each of theparticipants. The group coordinator can choose to selectively shareinformation with each of the participants as a group and/orindividually. For example, a university may be given the managementcontrol as a group coordinator. Various types of participants maysubscribe to the university group, such as for example, alumni, currentstudents, prospective students and faculty. Where an alumni participantmay be concerned, all other alumnis may share profile informationamongst each other, the group coordinator would solely control thesharing of this information amongst the various alumnis. Where a studentis concerned, the group coordinator may selectively share profileinformation about faculty pertinent to that student's class schedule.Furthermore, where a prospective student may be concerned, the groupcoordinator may selectively share profile information about admissioncounselors and/or other information about programs or classes within theuniversity. It is to be noted that the information tagged and shared toselected sub-groups within the university group may include, but is notlimited to, personal profiles but may include data information aboutevents, activities, programs, and the like. The group coordinator mayalso manage the permission of the user or organization to uploadexisting contact lists. Likewise, the group coordinator may managemember requests.

As part of the management of member requests, the group coordinator cansetup “segments” which will allow them to associate members and tag themwith words, phrases and/or terms they define. For example, the groupcoordinator may choose to tag a member to “employee”, “partner”,“vendor” or “recruiting candidate.” This feature is beneficial formarketing purposes. In addition, the group coordinator may customize theregistration pages for new users and setup response emails, and/or otheralerts when new users attempt to join. The various directories and tagsmay be tied to various back end systems in accordance with thisinvention.

It is to be understood that various types of controls and profiles maybe created for a particular user. For example, a user may have a firstbusiness profile set up with his/her professional information andassociated data. Likewise, the user may have a second social profile setup with his/her casual/social information and associated profileinformation data. Depending upon the environment in which the user is aparticipant, the user may selectively share one of the particularprofiles with a recipient. Likewise, the user may opt-in to make all orportions of his/her personal contact information private to other userswho already have their current profile information. Selectable securityelements may be tied to various portions of the profile informationwhich may be made visible or invisible to a recipient 203 of the profileinformation.

In the instance where a group coordinator or organization is managingvarious pieces of profile information, various privacy controls may beset that would apply to all members in that particular group, such asemployees of the organization. The privacy controls can be applied toany profile field, such as in this example to email and phone numbers.Once the profile field is set to private, it cannot be viewed on theuser's profile information. The group coordinator may apply privacycontrols selectively to various requestors 201 and recipients 203 as itdeems fit. Although the profile field for the email and/or phone numbermay be set to private and is hidden from the recipient 203, therecipient 203 of the profile information may still be able to email orcall the person since the contact information including email addressand phone number is still available to the information exchange server206. A masked phone number and/or email may be used to communicatebetween the participants. The ability to communicate, and various othercontrols tied to the profile information, may be modified as desired.For example, if the requestor 201 decides later to prevent the recipient203 to communicate with her, then the requestor 201 may select a“disable communication” profile field so that the recipient 203 can nolonger call or email her.

According to another aspect of the invention, the information exchangeserver 206 may capture and include selective membership and financialinformation in a user's profile information, such as membership, loyaltyand credit card account numbers. Examples of such membership andfinancial information include information typically fond on shopping andgym membership cards, shopping loyalty cards, frequent flyer accounts,bank debit and credit cards and the like. The compilation of thisprofile data information comprises a digital wallet. The advantage ofthe digital wallet is that the user would no longer have to carrymultiple cards in a wallet but would have quick access and use of theinformation in a secure fashion.

By way of example, when a user wishes to make a financial transactionthe user initiates the payment process by selecting the Vendor 382 (FIG.3A) listed on the mobile device 202 and entering the amount of thetransaction. The mobile device 202 transmits the vendor information, thetransaction number, the amount of the transaction, and the userinformation to the information exchange server 206. The informationexchange server 206 then pulls the financial information such as thecredit card information of the user from the database 306 and transmitsthe information to the vendor 382. The vendor's system would thenvalidate the transaction and send confirmation to the point of sale(POS) terminal at the location where the user is making the mobilepayment to complete the transaction. Through use of the presentinvention, the user's information need not be displayed on their mobiledevice and all private information can be masked locally on the mobiledevice 202. Masking the private information thereby prevents theft fromonlookers or anyone that sees, holds, or takes the user's mobile device202.

The system of the present invention could also employ a peer to peertransaction by pushing contact information from the mobile device 202 tothe POS terminal directly or through the information exchange server206. In this embodiment, the POS terminal would receive a request fromthe mobile device which includes the user's profile. The Vendor 382,upon receipt of the request, would receive the transaction amount anduser's profile information and would then connect to the network 205 toreceive the user's financial credit card information. The vendor 382would then approve the transaction or could transmit an SMS message oremail message to the user's mobile device 202 to verify the transactionand amount.

The user may selectively separate and assign the credit cards in thedigital wallet depending on whether the nature of the financialtransaction to be made is one which is defined as a social or businessrelated transaction. For example, at a business function, if a financialtransaction is to be accomplished, the user may conduct a financialtransaction with a credit account number related to her businessaccount. Alternatively, the user may desire to make a financialtransaction using a non-business related credit account number stored inher digital wallet in a social environment. The exchange of informationbetween the requestors 201 mobile device 202 and the informationexchange server 206 containing the digital wallet information may beperformed using secured encrypted signaling of information at the timeof the transaction throughout the system so as to prevent the sensitivefinancial information from being illegally accessed. Separateidentification codes may be assigned to the various accounts numbers inthe digital wallet and securely stored at the information exchangeserver 206, as well as in the requestors 201 mobile device 202.

As mentioned briefly above, identification codes may be associated withvarious types of membership accounts and rewards programs. The averageperson carries numerous membership and/or rewards cards on her person.Keeping track of these various membership cards can be cumbersome andmonotonous. Thus, according to this invention, it is possible toassociate one or many identification codes with each of the user'smembership and/or rewards cards. By doing so, the need to carry variousmembership and/or rewards cards is eliminated.

Retrieval of a particular identification code may be achieved innumerous ways. In one example, the location based system 380 may beemployed to automatically determine the location of the mobile device202 of a user. The location based system 380 may determine the positionof a mobile device 202 of a user in a number of commercially availableways, for example, using GPS, XY coordinates as registered by a celltower, triangulation and/or any other suitable means for determining thelocation of the mobile device 202 of the user.

For example, FIG. 8K depicts an example user interface 800 that may beprompted as soon as the user enters and/or comes close to the locationof the grocery store (i.e. Safeway). As shown, when the informationexchange server 206 has acknowledged that a requestors 201 mobile device202 is within a predetermined proximity of the Safeway, variousinformation such as the offer 832 “50% off groceries this Saturday Jun.7, 2008 only with this coupon” is sent to the requestor's 201 mobiledevice 202 and displayed on the user interface 800. The requestor 201may select from a variety of buttons 833 to block, reject or send theoffer to another contact. Various types of information may be providedfrom the information exchange server 206 to the user interface 800 ofthe mobile device 202. A scanning barcode 830 may also be displayed asshown on the user interface 800 for use upon checkout from the grocerystore. The advantage of providing this information accessible by therequestors 201 mobile device 202 is that the requestor 202 will not haveto carry a variety of rewards card associated with numerous differentestablishments. Other membership and/or rewards programs may be utilizedin a similar manner to the one described above, for example, walkinginto a gym, a requestor 201 may transmit an identification code with hermobile device 202 to the information exchange server 206, which in turnwould transmit the appropriate profile information for that particularmember to the Vendor 382 (as seen in FIG. 3A) through the network 205.The profile information returned from the information exchange server206 could also be shared directly from peer to peer from the requestors201 mobile device 202 to a receiving device at the gym, and/or a copy ofthe returned profile information may be directly sent to the gymestablishment with a participating identification code and connected tothe network 205. Likewise, purchases at these various establishments mayalso be made via the convenience of the requestors 210 mobile device 202and an associated identification code. The benefit of the systems andmethods of this invention is that personal and financial profileinformation may be securely embedded and masked on the requestor'smobile device 202 yet quickly and conveniently used at the appropriateestablishments thereby eliminating the need to physically carry a walletand/or purse. Leveraging this system, up-to-date contact profileinformation can be shared with various requesting parties such as, butnot limited to, universities, organizations, billing agencies, and thelike.

Another aspect of the present invention is to enhance the user'sinteractivity with their contacts and provide updates/feeds from variousdifferent social networks with full interactivity. The present inventionenables the requestor 201 or the recipient 203 to set include withintheir profile all of their social media profile information includingthe following: LinkedIn, Salesforce, Siebel, Twitter, Dynamics,Facebook, Myspace, Orkut, Plaxo, Bebo, Friendster, FriendFeed, Xanga,Yahoo, SugarCRM, BlackberryPush, iPhonePush, Geo Location Service, Digg,Vimeo, YouTube, Flickr, loopt, Brightkite, Google LAttitude, Yelp,Delicious, and IMs like Yahoo, AOL, Google Talk, MSA, iChat. Recipientsof a profile could then decide manually or set their account toautomatically follow or connect to social network accounts of new orupdated profiles. For example, if a requestor 201 has a Twitter accountidentified in their profile the recipient could set their preferences toautomatically follow the requestor on Twitter. The system and methods ofthe present invention can act as a central hub or messaging center forall communications and connections within the social spectrum relatingto the participating contact or profile with which a user had connected.

FIG. 4 exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a process of a recipient203, herein referred to as a “public user”, installing a mobile client202 a on a mobile device of the public user based on a request forconnection by a requestor 201. The requestor 201 requests for aconnection with the public user using the mobile client 202 a on therequestor's 201 mobile device. The public user may receive 401 the SMSor the email from the requestor 201 on the mobile device through theinformation exchange server 206 via the internet. If the public useraccepts 402 the request for connection by the requestor 201, theinformation exchange server 206 captures 403 the connection and replieswith a download link for enabling the public user to download the mobileclient 202 a on the public user's mobile device. On acceptance of therequest to download, the public user becomes a semi private user. Theinformation exchange server 206 then provides minimal information storedin the information database 206 a, required for the establishing theconnection. The semi private user first receives the download link fromthe information exchange server 206 to download the mobile client 202 a.The semi private user then clicks 404 on the link to initiate a mobileclient installer application provided by the information exchange server206 to download the mobile client 202 a. The information exchange server206 detects 405 the mobile technology on the semi private user's mobiledevice and provides an appropriate download of the mobile client 202 a.The mobile client installer application then prompts 406 the semiprivate user to install the mobile client 202 a.

The mobile client installer application checks 407 if correct runtime ofthe mobile client 202 a exists while downloading the mobile client 202a. If the mobile client 202 a does not have the correct runtime,information on minimal requirements for installation and link todownload the proper runtime is provided 408 on the semi private user'smobile device. The mobile client installer application then installs themobile client 202 a on the semi private user's mobile device. The semiprivate user then accepts 409 connection requests made by the requestor201 via the information exchange server 206 through the mobile client202 a installed on the semi private user's mobile device. The semiprivate user then fills 411 required information fields in the semiprivate user's registration profile on the mobile client 202 a. Oncompletion of the filling of the information fields by the semi privateuser in the semi private user's registration profile, the semi privateuser becomes a private user. The mobile client 202 a then sends 412 theregistration profile of the private user to the information exchangeserver 206.

FIG. 5 exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a process of a public userinstalling a mobile client 202 a on a smartphone. The public userregisters 501 on the host website implemented on the informationexchange server 206. The public user then provides a user profile to theinformation exchange server 206 during the registration. Onregistration, the public user becomes a private user. The private userthen sends 502 a and 502 b a hyperlink from the host website to theprivate user's smartphone via an email or an SMS to download the mobileclient 202 a on the private user's smartphone. On receiving thehyperlink, the private user then selects 503 correct download for thesmartphone. The private user is then prompted 504 to install the mobileclient 202 a. A mobile client installer application then checks 505 ifcorrect runtime of the mobile client 202 a exists while downloading themobile client 202 a. If the mobile client 202 a does not have thecorrect runtime, information on minimal requirements for installationand link to download the proper runtime is provided on the privateuser's smartphone. The mobile client installer application then installsthe mobile client 202 a on the private user's smartphone. The privateuser then accepts 506 multiple security and connection requests from theinformation exchange server 206 through the mobile client 202 ainstalled on the private user's smartphone. The private user thenretrieves 507 the private user's user profile from the informationexchange server 206 using the mobile client 202 a on the private user'ssmartphone.

FIG. 6 exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a process of a public userinstalling a mobile client 202 a on a smartphone by accessing a hostwebsite from the public user's smartphone. The public user navigates 601to a download mobile client screen from a host website using a webbrowser on the public user's smartphone. The public user then selects602 correct download for the smartphone. The public user is thenprompted 603 to install the mobile client 202 a. A mobile clientinstaller application then checks 604 if correct runtime of the mobileclient 202 a exists while downloading the mobile client 202 a. If themobile client 202 a does not have the correct runtime, information onminimal requirements for installation and link to download the properruntime is provided on the public user's smartphone. The mobile clientinstaller application then installs the mobile client 202 a on thepublic user's smartphone. The public user then accepts 605 multiplesecurity and connection requests from the information exchange server206 through the mobile client 202 a installed on the public user'ssmartphone. The public user then fills 606 required information fieldsin the public user's registration profile using the mobile client 202 a.The mobile client 202 a on the public user's smartphone then sends 607the registration profile to the information exchange server 206.

FIG. 7 exemplarily illustrates a flowchart of a process of providing amobile client 202 a to a public user. The public user receives 701 a and701 b an email or an SMS with a download link from the informationexchange server 206. The public user then clicks 702 on the downloadlink. The public user then selects 703 correct download for thesmartphone. The public user is then prompted 704 to install the mobileclient 202 a. A mobile client installer application then checks 705 ifcorrect runtime of the mobile client 202 a exists while downloading themobile client 202 a. If the mobile client 202 a does not have thecorrect runtime, information on minimal requirements for installationand link to download the proper runtime is provided on the public user'ssmartphone. The mobile client installer application then installs themobile client 202 a on the public user's smartphone. The public userthen accepts 706 security and connection requests from the informationexchange server 206 through the mobile client 202 a installed on theprivate user's smartphone. The public user then fills 707 requiredinformation fields in the public user's registration profile using themobile client 202 a. The mobile client 202 a on the public user'ssmartphone then sends 708 the registration profile to the informationexchange server 206. On sending the registration profile, the publicuser becomes a private user. The information exchange server 206 thensends connection request to the private user's smartphone forestablishing connection between the private user and other privateusers. If the private user accepts 709 the connection request, then themobile client 202 a sends 710 the acceptance to the information exchangeserver 206. If the private user declines 709 the connection request,then the mobile client 202 a sends 711 the denial to the informationexchange server 206.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating the basic components of anexample mobile device 900 which may be employed with systems and methodsof this invention. As shown, the mobile device 900 includes a display901, a processor 902, a user interface module 904, a communicationsmodule 906, and memory 908, including ROM 910 and RAM 912.

The processor 902 may include any hardware and/or software necessary foroperating and/or controlling the user interface 904, the wirelesscommunications module 906, and the memory 908. For example, theprocessor 902 may be individual digital logic components, a processor, amicroprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), andthe like. The processor 902 may have its own memory such as randomaccess memory (RAM), register memory, cache memory, and the like.

The processor 902 may be in communication with and/or in control of theuser interface 904, the wireless communications module 906, and/or thememory 908. For example, the processor 902 may direct the user interface904 to receive input from the user or present content on display 901,transmit or receive data via the wireless communications module 906, orretrieve preferences from a user profile stored in the memory 908.

The processor 902 may operate on computer-executable instructions.Computer-executable instructions may include computer-readableinstructions, for example machine code, byte code, script language,runtime code, and the like. The computer-executable instructions forexample, when executed by the processor 902, may cause the processingcomponent to perform the methods described in FIGS. 1 and 4-7.

The user interface 904 may be, in any combination of hardware and/orsoftware, any component, system and/or subsystem for receiving inputfrom a user and/or outputting information to the user. The userinterface 904 may include display 901, a number pad, or a keyboard. Forexample, the user interface 904 may include a telephone keypad,programmable softkeys, mechanical buttons, touch screens, and the like.One or more display screens 901 may provide visual output, for examplethe display of content pertinent to systems and methods of thisinvention. The user interface 904 may include a speaker for audio outputand/or a microphone for audio input.

The wireless communications module 906 may be, in any combination ofhardware and/or software, any component, system, and/or subsystem forproviding wireless communications to or from the mobile device. Thewireless communications module 906 may provide a wireless communicationschannel between wireless devices. The wireless communications module 906may provide point-to-point wireless communications between mobile device900 and a peer device. For example, the wireless communications module906 may communicate in accordance various commercially availableBLUETOOTH® protocols, and the like.

Wireless communications module 906 may provide radio frequency (RF)communications between mobile device 900 and other fixed and wirelessdevices, for example computing device 302, mobile device 303, smartphones 304, as well as other cell phones, laptops, PDAs, and othercommercially available communications devices. Wireless communicationsmodule 906 may provide a wireless communications channel between mobiledevice 900 and a wireless communications network. Wirelesscommunications module 906 may provide cellular communications orwireless data network communications, for example Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11),WiMAX (IEEE 802.16), and the like.

Memory 908 may be any component, system, and/or subsystem suitable forstoring data. For example, memory 908 may include storage media in theform of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory(ROM) 910 and random access memory (RAM) 912. A basic input/outputsystem (BIOS), containing basic routines that help to transferinformation between components within mobile device 900, such as duringstart-up, is typically stored in ROM 910. RAM 912 typically containsdata and/or application modules that are immediately accessible toand/or presently being operated on by processor 902.

Mobile device 900 may also include other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile storage media that can be used as part of memory908, for example hard disk drives, optical disc drives, flash memorycards, and the like. The storage media discussed above provide forstorage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, programmodules and other data for the mobile device 900, which may be executedon processor 902.

A GPS module 907 may be integrated as the location based service 380 inaccordance with the present invention. Together with various satellites914, the GPS module 907 is capable of determining the current locationof the mobile device 900. Three GPS satellites 914, of the total oftwenty-four GPS satellites 914 that circumnavigate the globe, are shownto transmit power radio signals at a predetermined frequency in the UHFband. The GPS signal contains three different pieces of information,i.e., a pseudo-random code, ephemeris data, and almanac data. Thepseudo-random code identifies the transmitting satellite 914; theephemeris data tells a GPS receiver where the GPS satellite 914 shouldbe at any time throughout the day; and the almanac data, which isconstantly transmitted by each satellite 914, contains importantinformation about the status of the satellite, i.e., healthy orunhealthy, and current date and time.

A GPS receiver within the GPS module 907 uses an internal antenna tocapture GPS signals sent by the three GPS satellites 914. The GPS module907 calculates pseudo ranges from the satellites 914 to its own positionwithin the mobile device 900. By receiving the GPS signals from the GPSsatellites 914, the GPS module 907 is able to compare the time eachreceived signal was transmitted by the satellites 914 with the time thesignal was received. The GPS module 914 may use this comparisoninformation to calculate degrees longitude and latitude and totriangulate the position of the mobile device 900. Although not shown inFIG. 9, the mobile device 900 also contains an antenna for transmittingand receiving wireless communications. The location of the mobile device900 could also be determined through use of cell tower triangulationthrough receipt and transmission of wireless signals from one or morecell towers, transmitters, and/or wireless devices.

It will be readily apparent that the various methods and algorithmsdescribed herein may be implemented in a computer readable mediumappropriately programmed for general purpose computers and computingdevices. Typically a processor, for e.g., one or more microprocessorswill receive instructions from a memory or like device, and executethose instructions, thereby performing one or more processes defined bythose instructions. Further, programs that implement such methods andalgorithms may be stored and transmitted using a variety of media, fore.g., computer readable media in a number of manners. In one embodiment,hard-wired circuitry or custom hardware may be used in place of, or incombination with, software instructions for implementation of theprocesses of various embodiments. Thus, embodiments are not limited toany specific combination of hardware and software. A ‘processor’ meansany one or more microprocessors, Central Processing Unit (CPU) devices,computing devices, microcontrollers, digital signal processors or likedevices. The term ‘computer-readable medium’ refers to any medium thatparticipates in providing data, for example instructions that may beread by a computer, a processor or a like device. Such a medium may takemany forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatilemedia, and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example,optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory volatile mediainclude Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), which typically constitutesthe main memory. Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wireand fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupledto the processor. Transmission media may include or convey acousticwaves, light waves and electromagnetic emissions, such as thosegenerated during Radio Frequency (RF) and Infrared (IR) datacommunications. Common forms of computer-readable media include, forexample, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, anyother magnetic medium, a Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), DigitalVersatile Disc (DVD), any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape,any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a Random Access Memory(RAM), a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM), an Erasable ProgrammableRead Only Memory (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable ReadOnly Memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, any other memory chip orcartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other mediumfrom which a computer can read. In general, the computer-readableprograms may be implemented in any programming language. Some examplesof languages that can be used include C, C++, C#, .NET or JAVA. Thesoftware programs may be stored on or in one or more mediums as anobject code. A computer program product comprising computer executableinstructions embodied in a computer-readable medium comprises computerparsable codes for the implementation of the processes of variousembodiments.

The mobile devices of the requestor 201 and the recipient 203 maysupport Java of Sun Microsystems Inc., more specifically Java 2 MicroEdition (J2ME™), Windows Mobile .Net Compact Framework of MicrosoftInc., Palm, Symbian™, Linux framework. Exemplarily, the mobile client202 a may be implemented on the J2ME platform. These environmentsprovide functionalities in the libraries to create the user interface ofthe mobile client 202 a and perform all the required functions of themethod and system disclosed herein. Other advantages of these frameworksare portability across mobile devices that run on different operatingsystems. The mobile client 202 a may be rendered independent of theoperating system of the mobile device. Some of the mobile phonesequipped with both wireless network and telephony data capabilities mayuse either of the two to communicate with the information exchangeserver 206. The transport protocol that is used between the mobileclient 202 a and the information exchange server 206 may be hypertexttransfer protocol (HTTP), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), or extensiblemarkup language-remote procedure calls (XML-RPC).

Where databases are described such as the information database 206 a, itwill be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that (i)alternative database structures to those described may be readilyemployed, and (ii) other memory structures besides databases may bereadily employed. Any illustrations or descriptions of any sampledatabases presented herein are illustrative arrangements for storedrepresentations of information. Any number of other arrangements may beemployed besides those suggested by, e.g., tables illustrated indrawings or elsewhere. Similarly, any illustrated entries of thedatabases represent exemplary information only; one of ordinary skill inthe art will understand that the number and content of the entries canbe different from those described herein. Further, despite any depictionof the databases as tables, other formats including relationaldatabases, object-based models and/or distributed databases could beused to store and manipulate the data types described herein. Likewise,object methods or behaviors of a database can be used to implementvarious processes, such as the described herein. In addition, thedatabases may, in a known manner, be stored locally or remotely from adevice that accesses data in such a database.

The present invention can be configured to work in a network environmentincluding a computer that is in communication, via a communicationsnetwork, with one or more devices. The computer may communicate with thedevices directly or indirectly, via a wired or wireless medium such asthe Internet, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN) orEthernet, Token Ring, or via any appropriate communications means orcombination of communications means. Each of the devices may comprisecomputers, such as those based on the Intel® processors, AMD®processors, UltraSPARC® processors, etc. that are adapted to communicatewith the computer. Any number and type of machines may be incommunication with the computer.

The foregoing examples have been provided merely for the purpose ofexplanation and are in no way to be construed as limiting of the presentmethod and system disclosed herein. While the invention has beendescribed with reference to various embodiments, it is understood thatthe words, which have been used herein, are words of description andillustration, rather than words of limitation. Further, although theinvention has been described herein with reference to particular means,materials and embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limitedto the particulars disclosed herein; rather, the invention extends toall functionally equivalent structures, methods and uses, such as arewithin the scope of the appended claims. Those skilled in the art,having the benefit of the teachings of this specification, may affectnumerous modifications thereto and changes may be made without departingfrom the scope and spirit of the invention in its aspects.

1. A method of managing mobile exchange of profile information between arequestor mobile device and at least one recipient mobile device,comprising the steps of: providing a mobile client on the requestormobile device; providing a requestor profile to an information exchangeserver by the requestor mobile device using the mobile client;generating and transmitting an identification code to the informationexchange server that initiates a request to share the requestor profilebetween the requestor mobile device and the at least one recipientmobile device using the mobile client; requesting the mobile client onthe at least one recipient mobile device to accept the request to sharethe requestor profile from the requestor mobile device; providing arecipient profile to the information exchange server by the at least onerecipient mobile device using the mobile client; transferring therecipient profile from the information exchange server to the mobileclient on the requestor mobile device on acceptance of the request bythe at least one recipient mobile device, and wherein the requestorprofile is transferred from the information exchange server to the atleast one recipient mobile device; and automatically updating thetransferred recipient profile on the requestor mobile device and thetransferred requestor profile on the at least one recipient mobiledevice in response to changes made to the recipient profile and therequestor profile.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the requestormobile device and the at least one recipient mobile device forms aplurality of mobile devices, all being commonly associated with anevent, so that when one or more of the plurality of mobile devices,transmits an identification code which includes an event identifier tothe information exchange server, all of the plurality of mobile deviceswhich transmit an identification code which includes the eventidentifier will receive the profile information associated with theplurality of mobile devices which transmit an identification code whichincludes the event identifier.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the atleast one recipient mobile device is a plurality of mobile devices, allbeing commonly associated with a group code as members of a group, andwherein the profile information of the members of the group issupervised by a centralized profile manager.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the centralized profile manager selectively receives profileinformation from the requestor mobile device and the recipient mobiledevices, and wherein the centralized profile manager selectively sharesprofile information about the members of the group to the members of thegroup.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of providingan electronic business card bowl application to a business organizationwith a business profile provided on the information exchange server forcollecting profile information provided by customers using the mobileclient via the information exchange server.
 6. A system for managingmobile exchange of profile information between a requestor mobile deviceand a recipient mobile device, comprising: a mobile client provided onthe requestor mobile device and the recipient mobile device, comprising:an information input module that enables the requestor mobile device andthe recipient mobile device to provide a requestor profile and arecipient profile respectively to an information exchange server; arequest module which transmits an identification code to the informationexchange server to request an exchange of the requester profile and therecipient profile information between the requestor mobile device andthe recipient mobile device; an information update module thatautomatically updates the recipient profile and the requestor profile onthe requestor mobile device and the recipient mobile device respectivelybased on changes made to the recipient profile and the requestorprofile; the information exchange server comprising: an informationdatabase for storing the requestor profile and the recipient profileprovided by the requestor mobile device and the recipient mobile devicerespectively through the mobile client; and an information transfermodule for transferring the recipient profile to the mobile client onthe requestor mobile device on acceptance of the request by therecipient mobile device, wherein the information transfer moduletransfers the requestor profile to the mobile client on the recipientmobile device.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the identification codeincludes an identifier associated with at least one profile or an event.8. The system of claim 7, wherein the identifier associated with atleast one profile or an event is embodied in a short code SMS, an MMS, aUSSD message, or the like.
 9. The system of claim 6 wherein the profileinformation is selectively modifiable and comprises at least one of:masked and unmasked contact information, location based information,meeting identity, meeting time, contextual information, billinginformation or notes.
 10. The system of claim 6, further comprises alocation based service that determines the position of the requestormobile device and the position of the recipient mobile device, such thatwhen the requestor mobile device and the recipient mobile device haveboth elected to share profile information with each other atapproximately the same time, and are within a predetermined distance ofeach other, the information exchange server may automatically initiatean invite message to the requestor mobile device and the recipientmobile device for acceptance to exchange profile information.
 11. Thesystem of claim 6, wherein the information database is adapted toreceive, store and communicate profile information about membership andrewards information, such that as desired, the requestor mobile devicemay initiate retrieval of the stored profile information related to themembership and rewards information that is stored in the informationexchange server.
 12. The system of claim 6, further comprising anelectronic business card bowl application for collecting profileinformation provided by customers using the mobile client via theinformation exchange server.
 13. The system of claim 6, wherein theinformation database stores a log of calls, electronic mails, and textmessages sent from a mobile device using the mobile client.
 14. Thesystem of claim 6, wherein the mobile client further comprises an offerbin module for receiving advertisements from advertisers on a mobiledevice using the mobile client.
 15. A system for managing mobileexchange of profile information between a requestor mobile device and arecipient mobile device, comprising: a mobile client provided on both,the requestor mobile device and the recipient mobile device, comprising:an information input module that enables the requestor mobile device andthe recipient mobile device to provide a requestor profile and arecipient profile respectively to an information exchange server; arequest module that requests an exchange of profile informationinitiated when an identification code, associated with at least oneprofile or an event, is transmitted by at least one of the requestormobile device and the recipient mobile device to the informationexchange server; an information update module that automatically updatesthe recipient profile and the requestor profile transferred from theinformation exchange server on the requestor mobile device and therecipient mobile device respectively based on changes made to therecipient profile and the requestor profile; the information exchangeserver comprising: an information database for storing the requestorprofile and the recipient profile provided by the requestor mobiledevice and the recipient mobile device respectively through the mobileclient; and an information transfer module for transferring therecipient profile to the mobile client on the requestor mobile device onacceptance of the request by the recipient mobile device, wherein theinformation transfer module transfers the requestor profile to themobile client on the recipient mobile device.
 16. The system of claim15, wherein the identification includes an identifier associated with atleast one profile or an event.
 17. The system of claim 15, furthercomprises a location based service that determines the position of therequestor mobile device and the position of the recipient mobile device,such that when the requestor mobile device and the recipient mobiledevice have both elected to share profile information with each other atapproximately the same time, and are within a predetermined distance ofeach other, the information exchange server may automatically initiatean invite message to the requestor mobile device and the recipientmobile device for acceptance to exchange profile information.
 18. Amethod of managing mobile exchange of profile information between arequestor mobile device and at least one recipient mobile device,comprising the steps of providing a mobile client on the requestormobile device; providing a requestor profile to an information exchangeserver by the requestor mobile device using the mobile client;generating and transmitting an identification code to the informationexchange server that initiates a request to share the requestor profilebetween the requestor mobile device and the at least one recipientmobile device using the mobile client; requesting the mobile client onthe at least one recipient mobile device to accept the request to sharethe requestor profile from the requestor mobile device; transferring therequestor profile from the information exchange server to the at leastone recipient mobile device on acceptance of the request; andautomatically updating the transferred requestor profile on therecipient mobile device in response to changes made to the requestorprofile.
 19. A system for managing mobile exchange of profileinformation between a requestor mobile device and a recipient mobiledevice, comprising: a mobile client provided on the requestor mobiledevice and the recipient mobile device, comprising: an information inputmodule that enables the requestor mobile device to provide a requestorprofile to an information exchange server; a request module whichtransmits an identification code to the information exchange server torequest an share the requester profile with the recipient mobile device;an information update module that automatically updates the requestorprofile on the recipient mobile device based on changes made to therequestor profile; the information exchange server comprising: aninformation database for storing the requestor profile provided by therequestor mobile device through the mobile client; and an informationtransfer module for transferring the requestor profile to the mobileclient on the recipient mobile device on acceptance of the request. 20.The system of claim 19, wherein the requestor profile includes financialinformation which can be used by the requestor to process payments usingthe requestor mobile device.